Elders: Health disparities across the U.S.

Amanda Cuda

Updated 10:16 pm, Wednesday, September 25, 2013

HARTFORD -- When Joycelyn Elders was a child in Arkansas, her family lived 13 miles from the nearest doctor and had no form of transportation other than a wagon and a mule.

The 80-year-old former U.S. Surgeon General recalled her father once loading up her then 4-year-old brother onto the mule's back when the child was sick and hauling out for medical care -- only to wait all day in the doctors' office because black patients weren't seen until the physician had taken care of all the white patients.

"That is not happening now -- I hope," Elders said. "We've come a long way, but that doesn't mean that we don't have a long way to go."

Elders was the keynote speaker at the Connecticut Health Foundation's Health Equity Media Event, which took place Wednesday afternoon at the Connecticut Institute for Primary Care Innovation in Hartford. Journalists and representatives of nonprofits throughout the state attended the event, which focused on shedding light on health care disparities in Connecticut.

Certain groups, including the poor, as well as racial and ethnic minorities, are more vulnerable to certain illnesses or conditions, and less likely to receive care for these afflictions, said Connecticut Health Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer Patricia Baker.

"We've identified health disparities over the past 40 or 50 years," she said.

For instance, about 30 percent of Hispanic and 20 percent of black Americans lack a usual source of health care, compared with less than 16 percent whites, according to the national Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Disparities exist in Connecticut as well. Though Fairfield County has a fairly low percentage of uninsured, roughly a quarter of Bridgeport residents are uninsured (compared with about 9 percent in the state overall).

That's a striking difference, said Robin Lamott Sparks, senior director of policy and research at the Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition. Sparks, who attended Wednesday's conference, said there are multiple factors that lead to these kinds of gaps. "There are language barriers that go on and cultural barriers," she said.

Several of the experts who spoke at the event said where a person lives also can determine his or her health. That's due to a variety of factors, including access to physicians and the availability to healthy food.

"Our zip code has more to do with how long we live than our genetic code," Elder said.

Elders was surgeon general under President Bill Clinton and was forced to resign in 1994 after controversial comments she made about masturbation. She was the country's first black surgeon general and the second woman to hold the position.

Elders said too many Americans suffer from chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and heart conditions, despite the fact that the country has some of the best doctors, nurses and hospitals in the world.

"We have a very excellent sick care system," she said. "The problem is, we don't have a health care system."

She said there are many groups who just can't get the care they need, and money isn't the only reason. Often, Elders said, there are cultural barriers -- particularly for those who don't speak English.

"If you're talking to a patient and they can't understand you, they can't do what you (tell them to)," she said.